Very rare first Dutch edition of the most influential manual on Chinese lacquer and the adaptation of lacquer techniques in Europe (Bomford). This treatise includes many different recipes for lacquers and other varnishes, for use on either wood or metal, with additional chapters on how to polish, cook, and colour them, or, in the case of the Chinese lacquers, how to add gold leaf. It also gives techniques and recipes for painters, including the creation of various colours, and a porphyry imitation. The present work is very rare, as WorldCat only records four copies in libraries.
Verhandeling over de vernissen is the first Dutch translation of Trattato sopra la vernice detta comunemente cinese (1720), written by the Jesuit and polymath Filippo Buonanni (1638-1725), who spent many years studying varnishes and lacquers. He corresponded with a wide circle of scientific colleagues about them and made use of the expertise of travellers who had seen Chinese lacquers in person. In the present work, he cites 28 different sources in 4 languages, and also gives the results of his own considerable experimentation in search of the ideal varnish. His work was translated into French in 1723. The present Dutch edition was translated after this French edition, but added a foreword with safety precautions.
The edges of the wrappers are frayed, the spine is gone, the sewing thread on the second sewing support is broken, but the leaves are all still present. A brown stain on page 1-4, affecting a few letters, lacking the final blank leaf. Otherwise in good condition. STCN 316716154 (3 copies); WorldCat 67769489, 1153615612 (4 copies); cf. Barbier IV, col. 790 (French ed.); Bomford, D., Foreword. In: Bonnani, F. Techniques of Chinese lacquer, p. VII-VIII; Canterzani, p. 339, nr. 18 (Italian ed.).